Link: http://trac.tools.ietf.org/wg/httpbis/trac/ticket/109
Component: non-specific
From RFC2616;
entity
The information transferred as the payload of a request or response. An entity consists of metainformation in the form of entity-header fields and content in the form of an entity-body, as described in section 7.
representation
An entity included with a response that is subject to content negotiation, as described in section 12. There may exist multiple representations associated with a particular response status.
variant
A resource may have one, or more than one, representation(s) associated with it at any given instant. Each of these representations is termed a 'varriant'. Use of the term 'variant' does not necessarily imply that the resource is subject to content negotiation.
These terms have caused confusion, perhaps because they imply server implementation details more than on-the-wire behaviours. E.g., from the client's perspective, is there any difference between the three terms?
Proposal:
1) Remove definition and instances of 'variant' from the spec (except for 'requested variant'; see #69).
2) Change definition of 'representation' to be that of 'entity'
3) Give editors license to change 'representation' to 'variant' and vice versa as appropriate.
Replying to mnot@pobox.com:
3) Give editors license to change 'representation' to 'variant' and vice versa as appropriate.
That should be "entity", not "variant", right?